This chapter identifies TDM policies and
programs suitable for implementation by regional and county governments.

Description

Regional and
county governments, including regional organizations such as port
authorities and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), are responsible for
planning, developing and operating transportation facilities and services
between cities. Because they are responsible for transportation on major urban
corridors and for addressing multiple problems such as congestion, accidents
and air pollution, TDM solutions tend to be particularly appropriate for
regional organizations.

Regional governments tend to be concerned
with medium-distance (10-100 mile) travel on major urban corridors and so are
responsible for planning and operating major urban highway and transit
programs.

Examples and Case Studies

The Puget Sound Regional Council provides
information on various financial incentives and regulations to support Smart
Growth land use development, and examples of successful developments that
reflect Smart Growth principles. The financial incentives and regulations they
recommend include:

The Livable
Region Strategic Plan (LRSP) produced by the Greater Vancouver Regional
District (GVRD) provides a regional growth strategy. It was adopted by the GVRD
Board with formal support of all municipalities and recognized by the B.C.
provincial government in 1996. The primary goal of the plan is to help maintain
regional livability and protect the environment in the face of anticipated
growth. It is used by all levels of government to guide and coordinate land use
and transportation decisions. The LRSP is linked to local community plans
through a Regional Context Statement. Other agencies, the private sector and
residents also use the plan to understand and contribute to Greater Vancouver's
vision for its future development.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gasoline was less than $2 a gallon when Mike
McKeever brought his gospel of bikes, light rail and tightly packed
neighborhoods to this state synonymous with cars, freeways and suburban sprawl.
"The development industry was very concerned," says Mr. McKeever,
head of Sacramento's regional planning agency. "The environmental
community was openly negative," concerned that it was "just more
talk, talk."

Seven years later,
with gasoline hurtling past $4 a gallon, Sacramento has become one of the
nation's most-watched experiments in whether urban planning can help solve
everything from high fuel prices to the housing bust to global warming. "They're
really the model," says Steve Winkelman, a transportation expert at the
Center for Clean Air Policy.

For decades,
backers of "smart-growth" planning principles have preached the
benefit of clustering the places where people live more closely with the
businesses where they work and shop. Less travel would mean less fuel
consumption and less air pollution. Several communities built from scratch upon
those principles, such as Celebration in Florida, sprouted across the country.
But they were often isolated experiments, connected to their surroundings
mainly by car. So, as gasoline remained cheap, the rest of the country
continued its inexorable march toward bigger houses and longer commutes. Now,
smart-growth fans see a chance to reverse that. "Expensive oil is going to
transform the American culture as radically as cheap oil did," predicts
David Mogavero, a Sacramento-based architect and smart-growth proponent.

Sacramento, yoked to the car and mired in one of the
lousiest housing markets in the country -- offers an intriguing laboratory for
that idea. Four years ago, just as oil was gaining momentum in its torrid climb
to $140 a barrel and beyond, the six-county region adopted a plan for growth
through 2050 that roped off some areas from development while concentrating
growth more densely in others, emphasizing keeping jobs near homes.

The local
governments in the area aren't compelled to follow the so-called Blueprint, but
the plan – backed by a strange-bedfellows coalition of ordinary citizens,
politicians, developers and environmentalists – shows signs of working,
nonetheless.

"To me, the
simplest way to test whether local governments are mainstreaming Blueprint
growth principles is to look at...what is getting built," says Mr.
McKeever. "The evidence there is pretty clear." Between 2004 and
2007, the number of projects with apartments, condominiums and town houses for
sale in the region increased by 533%, while the number of subdivisions with
homes on lots bigger than 5,500 square feet fell by 21%, according to
housing-research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.

Things were
different during the 1990s, as new single-family homes crept out to fill the
abundant open spaces far from downtown. Traffic exploded, rising 66% from 1990
to 2003. In 2000, the American Lung Association ranked Sacramento 11th for the
worst air pollution among U.S. cities – though, with about 1.4 million people,
it was 28th in population.

Facing the threat
of losing its federal transportation funding because of its poor air quality,
the Sacramento Area Council of Governments hired Mr. McKeever in 2001 to lead
the region's cleanup effort. He brought with him an eclectic environmental résumé:
He'd run a business that used a door-size fan to test homes for leaks of
precious heated or cooled air; he'd become an expert in siting houses so they
got the most sun possible, saving on electricity; and he'd become a planning
consultant, helping Portland, Ore., create a walking city with compact
neighborhoods connected by buses, streetcars and light rail.

When Mr. McKeever
arrived in California, gasoline was relatively cheap and developers comfortable
in building subdivisions the way they always had. He knew he would need to be
able to paint a detailed, realistic picture of what life in the area would be
like in 2050 if the traditional pattern of plopping one house on one acre of
ground far from the owners' jobs continued.

Buildings'
Impact

His staff
collected information on all 750,000 pieces of property in the region, such as
the number of housing units, people employed there, and return-on-investment
rates generated by various building projects. They plugged those numbers into a
database to be used with computer software Mr. McKeever helped develop to
calculate the impact different kinds of buildings have on traffic, job growth
and pollution.

In 2003, he took
the computer model on the road to workshop after workshop. This wasn't the
typical public hearing where officials sit in a row and take questions from the
crowd. Instead, the more than 5,000 people who attended got a chance to use the
computer program to play planner for a day, tweaking the mix of buildings to
see what would happen. "It sounds hokey," says the typically earnest
Mr. McKeever, "but it's about making democracy work."

Wary Developers

Developers were
wary. The higher density was tantalizing, but they weren't sure how to get
financing and permits, how to build and market the new communities.

"My first big
policy direction was, 'You need to go stop this Blueprint thing at all
costs,'" recalls Dennis Rogers, a lobbyist with the North State Building
Industry Association.

Mr. McKeever
persevered. He conducted shuttle diplomacy of sorts, gliding between meetings
with developers and environmentalists in a golf-cart-like neighborhood electric
vehicle.

Gradually, the
builders began to accept Mr. McKeever's argument that adding town houses,
condos and apartments to the mix of single-family homes would expose them to
more markets and protect them from a downturn in any particular one. At the
same time, residents were becoming more open to alternatives to the typical
suburban house thanks to what they were learning at the workshops. "The
building industry is one of the most customer-driven that you can find,"
says Marcus Lo Duca, a lawyer who has represented builders for 20 years.
"You have to adjust what you do to meet what home buyers want."

Dave Morris, an
area developer, became a convert when he attended a workshop where officials
presented their forecast of what the region would look like in 50 years if it
kept growing in the same way. On a big screen in front of hundreds of people,
they flashed traffic and air-quality figures that showed "you would
commute faster on a bicycle," says Mr. Morris. The quality of life for
communities without jobs nearby would nose dive. "It was really an
eye-opener," says Mr. Morris, 60 years old.

At the time, he
was building two gated communities with single-family homes on one-acre lots.
Mr. Morris is now working on a 171-loft project that will include shops and
offices in downtown Woodland, a small city northwest of Sacramento near the
university town of Davis. The site is near a courthouse, one of the main employers
in town, as well as restaurants and coffee shops. It has access to public
transit that can take residents to downtown Sacramento. The public library is
just a few blocks away. "I see gas prices making people take the Blueprint
seriously," he says. "It's kind of like not worrying about fast food
till the doctor tells you that you have a bad heart."

No. 1 Concern

A poll earlier
this year by California State University, Sacramento, found that high gasoline
prices were the No. 1 concern in the area and that 12% of respondents had
changed jobs or moved in the past year to shorten their commute to work. Matt
Overmyer moved to a new compact development in Roseville, a city northeast of Sacramento. It now takes him 15 minutes to get to his job as a manager of a Lowe's
home-improvement store, compared with the 45 minutes he drove from Folsom, a
nearby town he describes as "suburbia at its finest."

Mr. Overmyer's new
neighborhood sits at the western-most edge of Roseville, where cattle grazed
not long ago. But unlike many of the typical suburban developments that
sprouted on farmland surrounding Sacramento in previous years, his is designed
around a "village square" with restaurants and shops. Once it's built
out, it will be just a couple of blocks away from Mr. Overmyer's home. A
school, which his 19-month-old daughter will attend once she's old enough, has
already been built less than half a mile away.

Mr. Overmyer, 30
years old, now bikes to the grocery store, something he never did in Folsom.
Because the houses in his new neighborhood are close together and share a back
alley, he also interacts a lot more with his neighbors. "My social life
now consists of four neighbors up and down the street," he says. Before,
he and his wife had to drive at least a few miles to see friends.

Mr. Overmyer says
he's enjoying spending less time behind the wheel and "the bigger sense of
community." He's also pleased to see that the houses around him are
already selling for more than what he paid for his last year.

While the
Blueprint is still only a guide and local governments have the final word on
development, many have begun incorporating its principles into their local
laws, giving them real teeth. In Rancho Cordova, a city east of Sacramento that has adopted a Blueprint-friendly development plan, residents in densely
packed town homes and small houses can walk to work at nearby office parks. The
light-rail line built to commute to Sacramento now serves as a tram for local
residents.

"We're a
suburb that wants to become a city," says Linda Budge, Rancho's mayor.

In the spring, the
regional-planning agency's board took another major step by approving a $42
billion transportation plan designed to mesh with the Blueprint. Together, both
are projected by 2035 to reduce the amount of driving per household by 8% and
global-warming emissions per household by 12% from their 2005 levels.

Now, California's Transportation Department is offering grants to help other areas in the state
create their own Blueprints. Two environmental groups have co-sponsored a bill
in the state legislature encouraging other areas to follow Sacramento's
example. Think tanks such as the Center for Clean Air Policy are lobbying to
include Blueprint methods in the federal transportation bill, which is up for
reauthorization next year.

Placer
Vineyards

But Mr. McKeever,
who became his agency's director in 2004, still has battles to fight every day.
Take, for example, Placer Vineyards, a 14,132-unit proposed housing
development. It's in a good Blueprint location, close to both Sacramento and
the city of Roseville, a big job center. But the proposal doesn't meet the
Blueprint standard of an average 10 housing units per acre, which would
translate into a 21,631-unit project. That's the necessary density to accommodate
its projected future population growth within the Blueprint's boundaries.

"If you don't
build those 7,000 units there," Mr. McKeever says, "they will go
somewhere else," potentially onto land that the plan called for remaining
undeveloped. Mr. McKeever negotiated with the project's developers to present
two plans to the Placer County Board of Supervisors for approval -- the
original plan, and the Blueprint version. But the board chose the developer's
less-dense, original plan. "I felt like they were pushing those 7,000
units on me," says county Supervisor F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm.

Mr. Rockholm, one
of the 32 government officials who sit on the regional planning board, voted
for the Blueprint, but he argues that the denser version is wrong for the site,
now just farmland dotted with cows and yellow mustard flowers. Area residents
were concerned about the traffic the denser development would generate. Aside
from the density issue, Mr. Rockholm says, Placer Vineyards will be
Blueprint-compliant, with a bus transit center and trails and bike paths
connecting homes to parks and schools, he says.

But without
density, counters Terry Davis of the area Sierra Club chapter, smart growth
doesn't work. His group joined the local Audubon Society to file a lawsuit against
Placer County and the developers, charging them with destroying natural land
with plans that "unnecessarily promote urban sprawl." The parties are
in settlement talks.

Plans for
Streetcar

Even projects that
fully comply with the Blueprint have their problems. Mark Friedman, a local
developer, is working on a mixed-use development across the Sacramento River
from the California State Capitol, the heart of downtown. In his loftlike
office, a retrofitted former Pontiac-dealership, Mr. Friedman points to a sleek
architectural model to show how a streetcar would connect apartments, office
buildings and retail, making cars unnecessary.

Except that
without building housing first, there won't be enough people to justify the
state and local money that will help finance a streetcar. And without the
streetcar, the carless project doesn't work. "It's a chicken-and-egg
situation," says Mr. Friedman.

Building in the
heart of the city costs more than creating subdivisions in empty land on city
outskirts, says Mr. Friedman. But with the rising price of gasoline driving up
the cost of commuting, he and other developers are finding healthy demand for
their city projects at a time when suburban sales are slumping.

Even though the
area's housing market has been wracked by price drops of 25% in the last year
and one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, Mr. Friedman says he
already has sold nine of 28 town houses near downtown that he recently
completed, and three more are under contract, "which is not bad considering
the dismal state of the Sacramento real-estate market."

Mr. Morris, the
developer, says the housing downturn is hurting the places that have the
"dumbest growth. Smart growth works when the rest of it doesn't."

Regional Transportation Planning

The Washington State Growth Management Act
requires each Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) to develop a
regional transportation plan based on a least cost planning methodology that
identifies the most cost-effective transportation facilities, services and
programs for their region. Regional Transportation Plans adopted after July 1,
1995 should incrementally incorporate least-cost planning methodologies as they
are updated. All RTPs developed or updated and adopted after July 1, 2000 must
be based upon a least-cost planning methodology.

Houston, Texas has 105 miles of HOV lanes. They move 96-228% more
people per lane than general access lanes, and account for 5% of the travel by
the workforce. HOV lanes can be used by buses, carpools, vanpools and
motorcycles. On weekday mornings, HOV lane traffic moves toward Downtown
(inbound). On weekday afternoons and evenings, HOV lane traffic moves away from Downtown (outbound). On the Katy
HOV lane, minimum occupancy increases to three persons from 6:45 a.m. to 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays; a minimum of three passengers per vehicle also
is required on the Northwest HOV lane from 6:45 to 8 a.m. At other times, the
minimum occupancy requirement is two. QuickRide, a pilot program started in
January 1998, allows carpools with two people per vehicle to use the Katy HOV
during weekday peak periods for a fee. QuickRide commuters are tracked and
billed using a transponder attached to their windshields.

Transit Connectivity (MTC, 2006)

The San Francisco
Regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission has developed a transit
connectivity plan designed to improve service quality and ridership by
improving the following features:

·Information and wayfinding. This includes regional transit information (a single contact for
all types of public transport services), improved maps in and around stations,
and accurate real-time bus and train arrival information (including dynamic
signs at stations, websites and telephone system).

·Schedule coordination. Improved schedule coordination between different modes and lines,
including timed-transfer and pulsed networks.

·Fare integration.
Integrated fares, so one type of pass, rate structure and transfer policy
applies to all public transportation services throughout a region.

·Last-mile improvements. This refers to the ease of access to transit stops and hubs,
including shuttle services, bicycle and pedestrian access, and parking for
automobiles and bicycles.

To help implement these improvements the regional
transportation planning agency established a Transit Connectivity Working Group
comprised of representatives from transit agencies, cities, counties,
congestion management agencies, business associations, and other stakeholders
which provides technical advice and support.

In 1998 the
Central Okanagan Regional District in partnership with the City of Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and the Province of British Columbia developed a regional
TDM program. The formal agreement stated that the Regional District create a
TDM function and contracts the City of Kelowna to provide the service. This
initiative was in response to statistics which showed the Central Okanagan
being the most auto dependent regional district in BC. In 1998, 68% of the
residents of the City of Kelowna drove to work in a single occupancy
automobile, for the suburban areas the number was 85%.

Regional TDM
programs and policy are coordinated by the TDM working group inn the City of
Kelowna’s Transportation Division. The working group consisting of 2.5 staff
members is charged with initiating programs to influence travel choices toward
sustainable modes and help defer the public costs of new road infrastructure.
The program has set definite targets peak period trip reduction and overall
mode shift. Some of the key initiatives of the program are:

Bicycle Master
Plan and Sidewalk Master Plan. The City of Kelowna now has the highest
number of bicycle lane kilometers per capita in Canada. Also the City of
Kelowna has installed bike lockers in designated town centres which can be
rented on a monthly basis to bicycle commuters. City development standards
require new commercial and multi-family residential development proposals
to incorporate bicycle parking and storage into the design.

Public Transit
Improvements in partnership with BC Transit including the construction of
a new downtown transit station to act as a central hub for the regional
transit system.

The TDM group
works to ensure that parking supply and pricing policies are compatible
with regional TDM goals. The City of Kelowna has set a policy that the
minimum monthly parking charge in City owned lots and facilities at 10%
above the cost for a monthly public transit pass.

Development of a
carpool and rideshare service which now has 6,000 registrants.

Partnership with
a high school trip reduction program called Off Ramp.

Plan-It Calgary

Plan-It
Calgary is a comprehensive regional
transportation and land use planning process that includes extensive
consultation and research
to identify policies and planning practices that can help achieve
sustainability objectives. The following studies were commissioned for this
project:

Freight Transport Management Incentives (Holguin-Veras, et
al. 2010)

A major study
for the U.S. Department of Transportation used Global Positioning System (GPS) technology
to more efficiently manage urban truck traffic. This project:

Used GPS-enabled mobile telephones to track and
predict truck travel times and delays, calculate and verify financial
rewards for shifting from peak to off-peak travel times, data sharing
among participating partners, and to validate traffic models. It developed
state-of-the-art analytical formulations and simulation systems to study
and predict the behavior of carriers and receivers—together with the
underlying behavioral theories—that were successfully verified during the
pilot test conducted.

Led to new policy paradigms that, by exploiting
the nature of Large Traffic Generators and unassisted deliveries, greatly
reduce the need for financial incentives to receivers.

Garnered the enthusiastic support of large
corporations involved in urban delivery activities, trade organizations,
trade publications, and the industry at large, as they understood the
concept‘s potential as a business-friendly and effective freight demand
management tool they could embrace. As a result, some of the companies
involved in the pilot test are considering using off-hour deliveries on a
permanent basis.

Conducted institutional analyses to identify and
preliminarily discuss potential inter-agency arrangements that could
support the concept. These analyses—together with a vigorous outreach to
relevant agencies, and representatives of the freight industry, shippers,
and receivers—have provided the project an outstanding support base. This
has engendered the support of the key transportation agencies involved in
the project as they were able to appreciate the demand management
potential of the concept.

Received considerable research acclaim. This
research project received three awards, was selected to be presented as
the Plenary Lecture at the International Transportation Economics
Conference in Minneapolis in June 2009, has produced seven journal
papers, was featured in two Journal of Commerce articles and one Wall
Street Journal article, and was recognized by the NYCDOT Commissioner
Janette Sadik-Khan for its potential impact in New York City.

The researchers
concluded that this project demonstrates that remote sensing technology can
help manage freight transport in ways that are supported by both the freight
industry and transportation agencies.

In 2006 the Government of Ontario established the
Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (GTTA), with a brand name of
Metrolinx, was given the mandate to develop and implement an integrated
regional multi-modal transportation plan, an Investment Strategy and capital
plan, a transit vehicle purchasing co-operative, and programs such as BikeLinx
and the Smart Commute Initiative. The
Big Move document defines the Regional Transportation Plan’s vision, goals
and objectives, strategies, priority actions and supporting policies for
creating a seamless, coordinated, efficient, equitable and user-centred
regional transport system, as well as an investment strategy to finance the
these projects and services.

In 2007 the
Montgomery County Council adopted a unique area-wide transportation test,
called Policy Area Mobility Review (PAMR), as a growth management tool.
PAMR supplements the Local Area Transportation Review process (a fairly
standard transportation impact analysis of nearby intersections). PAMR signals
a shift in Montgomery County from measuring traffic capacity to assessing
mobility. It has two components:

·Relative Transit
Mobility (RTM), the
relative speed by which journey-to-work trips can be made via transit travel as
compared to auto travel

PAMR uses the
regional metropolitan planning organization travel demand model to forecast
conditions for a horizon year that includes previously approved development
(the “pipeline”) countywide and regional growth and transportation projects
funded in the next four fiscal years. The RTM and transit level of service
(LOS) is established for each zone (called policy areas). The area’s
arterial LOS requirements are based on the forecasted transit LOS and the RAM.
For areas with adequate RAM, applicants need take no action under PAMR. For
policy areas where relative arterial mobility is insufficient applicants must
support the following mitigation actions:

In 2003 the New Zealand Government began
establishing the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), which will have
responsibility for all Auckland area transport, including rail, bus, ferry,
pedestrian and cycle transport. ARTA will be responsible for:

·Operational planning of integrated road and passenger transport
infrastructure and services for the region, including consultation as
appropriate with Transfund, Transit, TrackCo and territorial authorities, and
travel demand management programs.

·Funding of Auckland transport projects and
services including contracting of passenger transport services.

·Implementation of operational plans.

·Funding all roads other than state highways,
including c0-funding of all local roads in conjunction with territorial
authorities.

This new authority will be accountable to
the Auckland Regional Council (ARC). The ARC will continue to have statutory
responsibility for the Auckland Regional Growth Strategy, Auckland Regional
Land Transport Strategy and the Auckland Regional Policy Statement.

The ARTA will
receive government and local money to implement the plan and will contract with
Auckland transport companies. It will be run by a board, the members of which
will appointed by a panel representing the ARC and the seven Auckland city
councils. The ARC will have a majority on this panel. Another body, tentatively
called Auckland Regional Holdings, is proposed to govern other regional
infrastructure, such as the assets of Infrastructure Auckland. The government
will provide a number of new funding options to support regional transportation
improvements, including additional fuel taxes, and possibly road tolls and
parking levies.

References And Resources For More Information

ACCESS - Eurocities for a New Mobility
Culture (www.access-eurocities.org)
a local authority network aiming to promote a new mobility culture throughout Europe, in order to combat congestion, improve air quality

CCAP (2005),
Transportation Emissions Guidebook: Land Use, Transit & Travel Demand
Management,Center for Clean Air Policy (www.ccap.org/trans.htm).
This guidebook helps users assess the air pollution,
energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions benefits of a variety of
transportation and land use policies. Includes policy overviews, success
stories and links to key models and resources.

European Database on Good Practice in
Urban Management and Sustainability (http://europa.eu.int/comm/urban),
is designed to help local authorities to work towards sustainability by
disseminating good practice and policy, facilitating the exchange of
experience, and raising awareness about how cities and towns can be managed in
more sustainable ways.

European Local Transport Information
Service (ELTIS) (www.eltis.org/en/search.htm) is
an on-line guide to over 400 transportation measures, policies and practices in
Europe.

NALGEP
(2005), Clean Communities on the Move: A Partnership-Driven Approach to
Clean Air and Smart Transportation, National Association of Local
Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP), (www.nalgep.org).

National Association of Regional
Councils (www.narc.org)
is a professional organization that support community planning. It provides a
variety of resources related to regional transportation planning.

Plan-It
Calgary is an example of a comprehensive
regional transportation and land use planning process that includes extensive
consultation and research to identify policies and planning practices that can
help achieve sustainability objectives.

Strategic Policy Options for Sustainable
Development Database (www.iges.or.jp/cgi-bin/rispo/index_spo.cgi),
Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options (RISPO) by the Institute
for Global Environmental Studies provides information, recommended best
practices and case studies on a wide range of sustainable policies and
strategies.

Transit Benefit Ordinance (www.transitbenefitordinance.com).
Website provides specific information on how municipal governments can
encourage or require employers to offer transit benefits and other incentives
for more efficient commuting.

Transport Research Knowledge Centre (www.transport-research.info/web/index.cfm)
provides information on European transport research programmes that support
sustainable mobility.

Transport Toolkit (http://ledsgp.org/transport)
by the Transport Working
Group as part of the Low Emission Development Strategies Global
Partnership helps planners and decision-makers access various information
resources that can help identify the most effective tools to build and
implement low emission transportation strategies.

USEPA
(2002), Transportation Control Measures Program Information Directory,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (http://yosemite.epa.gov/aa/tcmsitei.nsf).
This is an on-line searchable database with approximately 120 case studies of
programs that reduce transportation pollution emissions.

USEPA
(2002), Smart Moves: Transportation and Smart Growth Best Practices (www.epa.gov/livability/smart_moves.htm)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This competition profiles state and local
efforts to promote smart growth principles in transportation projects.

This Encyclopedia is
produced by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute to help improve
understanding of Transportation Demand Management. It is an ongoing project.
Please send us your comments and suggestions for improvement.